5 Photographic prints (black and white , 8 x 10 inches.)
Container:
Item 5
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Photographic prints
Black-and-white photographs
Photographs
Place:
United States -- Officials and employees
Akron (Ohio)
Date:
1943 May 31
Summary:
This study collection contains five 8 x 10 inch black and white publicity photographs, dated May 31, 1943, of Liberian officials, U.S. State Department representatives, and Firestone Tire & Rubber Co. personnel, taken as they toured the company's war production plants in Ohio. Each photograph has complete typewritten documentation tipped to the back. Includes images of President Edwin Barclay and President-elect William V.S. Tubman of Liberia, Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis and Harvey S. Firestone, Jr.
Arrangement note:
Arranged by Firestone negative file number.
Biographical/Historical note:
On May 31, 1942, President Edwin Barclay of Liberia, President-elect William V.S. Tubman, Brigadier General Benjamin O. Davis (then the highest ranking African American officer in the American Armed Forces) and State Department representatives toured the war production plants of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio. President Barclay and his delegation came to Akron from Washington, D.C., where they had been guests of President Roosevelt.
In 1926, the Firestone Rubber Company obtained a concession from the Liberian government which gave it the right to lease up to 1 million acres--roughly 4% of the entire country--for 99 years. With this leased land, Firestone created the world's largest rubber plantation at Harbel, Liberia. Exportation of rubber from the new Firestone plantations began in 1934 and rubber quickly became the backbone of the Liberian economy. When Malaysia fell to the Japanese during World War II, the Firestone plantation in Liberia became a main supplier of rubber for Allied forces.
General note:
Title provided by EEPA staff.
Restrictions:
Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
Rights:
Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.